The Prisoner of Zenda

The Prisoner of Zenda

4/11/1952 1h 40m 6.8/10

Overview

A kingdom's ascending heir, marked for assassination, switches identities with a lookalike, who takes his place at the coronation. When the real king is kidnapped, his followers try to find him, while the stand-in falls in love with the king's intended bride, the beautiful Princess Flavia.

Director

Richard Thorpe

Top Billed Cast

James Mason

James Mason

Rupert of Hentzau

Deborah Kerr

Deborah Kerr

Princess Flavia

Stewart Granger

Stewart Granger

Rudolf Rassendyll / King Rudolf V

Jane Greer

Jane Greer

Antoinette de Mauban

Lewis Stone

Lewis Stone

The Cardinal

Louis Calhern

Louis Calhern

Col. Zapt

Reviews

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

9/9/2022

7/10

From Alfred Newman's opening music through the first ten minutes of this, it's pretty much a carbon copy of the 1937 version of Sir Anthony Hope's story. The only difference is that it's Stewart Granger playing the dashing "Rassendyll" who arrives in the European kingdom of Ruritania just as it's king is to be crowned. He's puzzled by his welcome but a walk in the forest soon makes the reasons for that clear when he meets "Col. Zapt" (Louis Calhern) and his boss - the King - who looks like his identical twin. Back to his hunting lodge they go for a glass of wine and next thing he wakes up in the morning with the king sound asleep and the colonel with the headache. He'll never make his coronation now - unless... Despite plenty of nerves their alternative day goes off smoothly enough but their return to the lodge presents them with a much better problem. The king has been kidnapped by "Rupert" (James Mason) and their plan to put his step-brother "Michael" (Robert Douglas) on the throne via the "Princess Flavia" (Deborah Kerr) is starting to look like it will work. Only by staying on in his role whilst they figure out a way to rescue the eponymous gent from the dungeons can they hope to restore proper monarchy. With the battle lines now drawn, this becomes a colourful and quickly paced cat and mouse game with Granger on charismatic form as he must resist falling in love with the princess whilst he saves the king. Kerr does enough here. She brings a glittering presence just by turning up in a tiara with her softly spoken voice, but it's really Mason who steals the show as his character has that mischievous touch of malevolence that he was good at exuding. It does take a while to get up to speed, but it's my kind of film and well worth an hour and an half.

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